RONAIAH Tuiasosopo, the man who hoaxed Manti Te'o, has said he had 'romantic' feelings for the footballer.

The 22-year-old Californian posed as Lennay Kekua, who he invented by using pictures of Diane O'Meara, a former high school classmate. Kekua's 'death' from leukemia in September, resulted in a national outpouring of grief for Te'o.

Dr Phil then asked "are you therefore gay?", to which Tuiasosopo replied, "When you put it that way, yes."

He then caught himself and said "I am confused."

Dr Phil told the US Today show that in his opinion Tuiasosopo had feelings for Te'o.

“Here we have a young man that fell deeply, romantically in love,’’ he said.

Tuiasosopo says he tried to come clean many times during the two year 'relationship.'

“I wanted to end it because after everything I had gone through, I finally realised that I just had to move on with my life," he said. “I had to start just living and let this go. There were many times where Manti and Lennay had broken up, but something would bring them back together whether it was something going on in his life or in Lennay’s life, or in this case, my life."

In an exclusive interview with Katie Couric, Te'o was asked if he was gay to which he replied "No, far from it ... far from it."

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Comments on this story

SusieQ of SA Posted at 8:48 AM January 31, 2013

Why give this fraudster any airtime? Respect the poor footballer who was duped into believing he had a relationship, albeit never in person, with a pretty girl. By giving this fraudster any news space you are prolonging the pain and embarrassment for the victim. Leave it alone this man is no celebrity and deserves no sympathy.

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